ROM editing, sprite swapping, and a sprinkle of Python get you a female hero.

Despite the title, the game series Legend of Zelda has lacked much in the way of Zelda. Inspired by a hack in which a father switched Mario with Pauline in Donkey Kong, Kenna W. of Kenna Draws Stuff set out to switch the Zelda and Link sprites in The Legend of Zelda so the princess can get out of the castle and do a little of her own adventuring.

As with Mike Mika’s role-swapped Donkey Kong, Kenna W. used Tile Layer Pro to swap the tile palettes so that the Link sprite would be replaced with Zelda and vice versa. Kenna W. experienced some difficulties as she tweaked—if she edited them, the tiles would revert to their original alignments when she tried to scroll, and some of the lesser-used sprites were scattered in different places throughout the game file. “Link's ‘Large-Shield walk cycle’ appears in two completely different parts of the code and Zelda's 'Standing' and 'arms raised' animations are on two different lines,” Kenna W. wrote in a blog post (hat tip to Kotaku for highlighting her work).

The ROM editor is not able to swap the coloring of the tiles—Link would be red and Zelda would be green—so Kenna W.'s boyfriend stepped in with a Python script that would keep princessified Link in his trademark green and put Zelda back in red. The two also used a Legend of Zelda ROM map that explained what each piece of code within the game does.

The gender swap harkens back to the work of Mike Hoye, who used a hex editor to swap all the gendered pronouns in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker so his young daughter could play as a female character.

Kenna W. does not provide her full version of the game due to copyright concerns, but she encourages would-be Zelda players get their own version of the ROM and download her patch to implement the role-switch.

Interesting. Any mention on what Kenna's plans are? I don't think there was mention that this was for a child and it sounds like it won't be released to the general public. Maybe for Kenna's own enjoyment?

Interesting. Any mention on what Kenna's plans are? I don't think there was mention that this was for a child and it sounds like it won't be released to the general public. Maybe for Kenna's own enjoyment?

She's posted the patch for general use, you just have to provide your own ROM.

EDIT: Which surprises me, given the number of games like Mirror's Edge and Beyond Good and Evil and Tomb Raider that seem to do just fine with female leads.

"Just fine"? Mirror's Edge and BG&E never became franchises. They didn't sell that well, and thus are considered failed experiments. Tomb Raider... well, it's a cross between being grandfathered in and having an excuse to look at Lara Croft's rack/ass.

So no, that doesn't surprise me.

The problem is that games with female protagonists also often are games that are not like other games. It's not "God of War, only with a chick." It's "Mirror's Edge". It's a different kind of game experience. And not necessarily one that is proven to be a strong seller.

The problem is that publishers see these experimental games that fail which "just so happen" to star women. The obvious conclusion is drawn.

"Just fine"? Mirror's Edge and BG&E never became franchises. They didn't sell that well, and thus are considered failed experiments. Tomb Raider... well, it's a cross between being grandfathered in and having an excuse to look at Lara Croft's rack/ass.

So no, that doesn't surprise me.

The problem is that games with female protagonists also often are games that are not like other games. It's not "God of War, only with a chick." It's "Mirror's Edge". It's a different kind of game experience. And not necessarily one that is proven to be a strong seller.

The problem is that publishers see these experimental games that fail which "just so happen" to star women. The obvious conclusion is drawn.

Good point, I was thinking "successful" as in doing well in terms of critical success. Certainly two fo those games didn't make massive sales even if they were critical successes.

However, if you want God of War with a "chick" you've got Heavenly Sword (which, to be fair, also sold poorly), but there's also classic stuff like Metroid. Silent Hill and Resident Evil have also delved into female main characters. Don't forget Perfect Dark, Portal, No One Lives Forever, etc. etc.

I don't want to sound politically incorrect or insensitive, but can't they just... stop doing things like this? I don't understand the need to change old games to be gender neutral. The way they were designed is a sign of the times in which they were made, why must we try SO hard to apply current day ideals to a video game made 25 years ago? Instead of changing the past, we really should hope that companies making games now are more forward thinking. I feel changing old games screws with the vision and history of the game.

I don't want to sound politically incorrect or insensitive, but can't they just... stop doing things like this? I don't understand the need to change old games to be gender neutral. The way they were designed is a sign of the times in which they were made, why must we try SO hard to apply current day ideals to a video game made 25 years ago? Instead of changing the past, we really should hope that companies making games now are more forward thinking. I feel changing old games screws with the vision and history of the game.

But, this is an unpopular opinion, it looks like.

It's unpopular because you are acting like anything is hurt by this. It doesn't change the past or history. We all know how the games really were. If someone wants to expend some effort and have some fun turning things around, why not let them. If you don't like it, ignore it and move on with your life.

I don't want to sound politically incorrect or insensitive, but can't they just... stop doing things like this? I don't understand the need to change old games to be gender neutral. The way they were designed is a sign of the times in which they were made, why must we try SO hard to apply current day ideals to a video game made 25 years ago? Instead of changing the past, we really should hope that companies making games now are more forward thinking. I feel changing old games screws with the vision and history of the game.

But, this is an unpopular opinion, it looks like.

They do it :1) because they can (which is a great reason)2) in the case of the previous hack, it was so that a little girl can play the game as a girl. I've got a niece and she strongly prefer playing a girl character, she might not want to play the game at all otherwise.

I don't want to sound politically incorrect or insensitive, but can't they just... stop doing things like this? I don't understand the need to change old games to be gender neutral. The way they were designed is a sign of the times in which they were made, why must we try SO hard to apply current day ideals to a video game made 25 years ago? Instead of changing the past, we really should hope that companies making games now are more forward thinking. I feel changing old games screws with the vision and history of the game.

But, this is an unpopular opinion, it looks like.

Eh, don't look so much into it. These are just parents trying to do something special with their kids and push themselves to try new things.

I'm surprised that we haven't seen a reverse version of this though. A lot of work would be involved and copyright infringement too, but I think it would be awesome/hilarious if someone were to replace the new Lara Croft with Nathan Drake as they're pretty much the same exact character in different textures.

Good point, I was thinking "successful" as in doing well in terms of critical success. Certainly two fo those games didn't make massive sales even if they were critical successes.

However, if you want God of War with a "chick" you've got Heavenly Sword (which, to be fair, also sold poorly), but there's also classic stuff like Metroid. Silent Hill and Resident Evil have also delved into female main characters. Don't forget Perfect Dark, Portal, No One Lives Forever, etc. etc.

Just like these girls want to play games as a girl character you'd expect boys to want to play as a guy. So how can a publisher be willing to take a chance with a female character that many guys won't want to play as when the majority of their audience is male? Who would be willing to risk 200$ million on a new market when you have a core market already?

The only way would be to allow both genders, but that complicates story telling and voice acting greatly. Add in the fact that most of the writers and programmers are males and write what they know and you have a situation that isn't easily fixed.

I have no problems with this, per se, but does every time a parent mods an old game to switch the hero's gender deserve a separate article? This would be more worthy of an omnibus article on old game hacking. Otherwise, it starts to feel like the Ars staff just wants to rehash the same thing over and over again.

I understand that this is politically correct and all but I fail to see how this can stay interesting after the 3rd article on these mods.

Agreed.

Additionally, games like Metroid (which has been out just as long) and Tomb Raider have lead female characters and are 2 titles that have been just as if not mroe popular than Zelda. Final Fantasy and Tekken and Mortal Kombat and Soul Calibur series also all depict choosable lead female characters. Not so sure why these article are gleaning attention to the modders other than the female/ male swap thing, but slap the kids in front of one of the more modern Mario titles and you do in fact get to play a female character.

As I recall, Zelda's only wearing red because Link usually has the red ring by the time you get to her. If you're still in the green tunic by then, she'll be in green also.

I was just thinking I remember seeing her in blue, but then, it was 25 years ago, so I don't know how much I'm remembering correctly.

That would certainly explain it, though.

I think this is a fantastic little mod - Zelda has seemed just as capable a warrior as Link in some of the more recent games.

In Ocarina of Time she wasn't technically saved, Hyrule was, and she helped Link while in disguise as Sheik who apparently was capable of defending herself and evading Ganon's army. The Super Smash Bros series have this change as part of her character's special moves. In Windwaker I believe she was a pirate queen? So fairly capable in that one too

Ufgt wrote:

I don't want to sound politically incorrect or insensitive, but can't they just... stop doing things like this? I don't understand the need to change old games to be gender neutral. The way they were designed is a sign of the times in which they were made, why must we try SO hard to apply current day ideals to a video game made 25 years ago? Instead of changing the past, we really should hope that companies making games now are more forward thinking. I feel changing old games screws with the vision and history of the game.

You realise they're not actually going around converting all of the cartridges to be like this, right? If you go out and get a copy of Legend of Zelda, it'll still be Link who's the hero. At most one game will be modified, assuming they aren't doing this with an emulated version

I'm guessing every single person who posts "lame, what's the point" isn't a father with a daughter. I've got two girls myself, and while I had no problem introducing my 8 year old to The Legend of Zelda with Link, she's played it some already, I'm definitely going to try the patch. It's incredibly difficult to find ways to share your geeky passions with your kids and also find strong female roles.

Am I the only one who really doesn't care what gender the game protestant is? If I like a game I don't care if the main character is a guy or girl, I only care that the game is enjoyable. Zelda is enjoyable whether it is Link saving Zelda or Zelda saving Link.

I'm guessing every single person who posts "lame, what's the point" isn't a father with a daughter. I've got two girls myself, and while I had no problem introducing my 8 year old to The Legend of Zelda with Link, she's played it some already, I'm definitely going to try the patch. It's incredibly difficult to find ways to share your geeky passions with your kids and also find strong female roles.

This. I'm going to try some of these with my daughter when she's old enough to start on video games.

Everytime someone tries to think of games with a female protagonist, Beyond Good and Evil will always be mentioned. Tomb Raider and Mirror's Edge being close second.

That itself is proof that the industry hasn't evolved yet. There are so few games with female protagonists that we always use the same examples.

There are a few others examples (such as FFXIII), but really, if I asked 3 people the reverse question "give me 3 games with a male protagonist" their list probably probably wouldn't overlap, or only slightly.

I'm guessing every single person who posts "lame, what's the point" isn't a father with a daughter.

You know what they say about people who assume... I enjoy playing games with my 4 yr old daughter. But I still don't see the point of these hacks nor of these articles other than some misguided sense of political correctness.

Shouldn't that be "Thank You Peach! But Our Plumber Is In Another Castle!"?

Sounds a little less dramatic when it's put that way actually...

Depending on what you needed a plumber for, this actually could be a serious problem.

But on a serious note, I like that people are doing this and I'm glad for these articles. I enjoy going back and playing older games, and while I'm not a father now, someday I may want to share this with my children. If I happen to have more tools at my disposal because of these patches, then I don't see how that's bad for anyone.

For those out there that are complaining about what a waste of effort this is, or how ridiculous it is to be going back and gender-swapping old games.....really? If you're not interested, that's fine, but the effort isn't discredited just because you don't happen to extract any value from it. Mike Mika and Kenna W. have both benefited from their work, and that's good enough for me (for now).

Games didn't fail because the protagonist was a female. They failed because the game play wasn't good. You could choose to be a female character in MassEffect and that was a success. Skyrim is another example. It has to do with actual game play not sexism. What's with the bullshit PC glasses being worn by people who make this claim? I see no point in pushing this lie.

I understand that this is politically correct and all but I fail to see how this can stay interesting after the 3rd article on these mods.

Agreed.

Additionally, games like Metroid (which has been out just as long) and Tomb Raider have lead female characters and are 2 titles that have been just as if not mroe popular than Zelda. Final Fantasy and Tekken and Mortal Kombat and Soul Calibur series also all depict choosable lead female characters. Not so sure why these article are gleaning attention to the modders other than the female/ male swap thing, but slap the kids in front of one of the more modern Mario titles and you do in fact get to play a female character.

Afaik, Metroid didn't reveal Samus as a woman until Super Metroid, the third game in the franchise, and even then it was an easter egg to get her to take her helmet/armour off. It was then 8 years before they released another Metroid game, despite it being an established and popular franchise

Final fantasy you only get a lead female protagonist in (iirc), 6 and 12 (sorta). There are female supporting roles in the others, but generally they're there as the love interest to the male protagonist.

Tekken, Mortal Kombat and Soul Calibur all had female characters, but they didn't have a single protagonist which is what this is all about. They also had a wide enough range of characters that you didn't have to play as a female one if you didn't want to

I understand that this is politically correct and all but I fail to see how this can stay interesting after the 3rd article on these mods.

Agreed.

Additionally, games like Metroid (which has been out just as long) and Tomb Raider have lead female characters and are 2 titles that have been just as if not mroe popular than Zelda. Final Fantasy and Tekken and Mortal Kombat and Soul Calibur series also all depict choosable lead female characters. Not so sure why these article are gleaning attention to the modders other than the female/ male swap thing, but slap the kids in front of one of the more modern Mario titles and you do in fact get to play a female character.

Samus' gender in Metroid has largely been negated by the facts that:

1. She appears gender neutral in her armor2. She has no discernible character traits or personality in most games3. The one time they did try to give her some personality in Other M, they reduced her to a quivering meat sack of emotional frailty

Fighting game franchises? Really? Taki's breasts and destructible armor are all you really need to know about them.

Tomb Raider may be different, especially with the reboot. I don't know, as I've never played a game in the series. However, given that Lara Croft was one of the first characters (if not the first) with boob physics, plus her always revealing outfit, and it's not hard to see that she's purposely designed to literally attract male gamers.

Finally, Final Fantasy, for the longest time, had its female characters fit squarely into the Magical Girl trope. While modern installments have gotten better, there's still room for improvement.